Get access to some of industry's greatest problem solvers

Whether you join TWI as an individual through our Professional Membership, or your company joins us as an Industrial Member, being part of TWI grants access to a package of benefits unavailable anywhere else.

By becoming a member you will open a door to a unique combination of expertise, facilities and support. You will be joining more than 2000 Industrial Members and 5000 Professional Members, including many of world’s biggest and most successful companies.

Providing solutions and adding value

TWI is one of the world’s foremost independent research and technology organisations, with expertise in solving problems in all aspects of manufacturing, fabrication and whole-life integrity management technologies.

This privacy and cookie use policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you use these websites.

Anonymous AccessYou can access our websites' home pages and browse much of our site without disclosing your personal information.

Other websitesOur websites include links to external websites and a link to:

Barclays Bank secure payment system

RBS WorldPay secure payment system

Such third party web service providers may collect personal information about our visitors. This privacy and cookie use policy only applies to these websites so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy and cookie use policies.

Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data which is sent to your browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. These pieces of information are used to improve services for you.

What we do use cookies for

ensuring the websites work as you’d expect

enabling a service to recognise your device with your permission so you don’t have to give the same information several times during one task

recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don’t need to do it for every web page requested anonymously measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there’s enough capacity to ensure they are fast

allowing you to share pages with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter

personalising our site to you to help you get what you need faster.

What we do not use cookies for

collecting personally identifiable information unless you have given your express permission and consent

collecting personally sensitive information unless you have given your express permission and consent

By continuing to use our websites, you are agreeing with us that we can place the types of cookies as described on your device.

If you do not agree with the use of cookies as described in this section, please follow the steps for controlling and deleting cookies provided in 'How to control and delete cookies' below and navigate away from our website.

Cookies set by us for improving our service to you

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics, and are applied to every page of the TWI site. Google Analytics set cookies to help TWI accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This is to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast.

Name:_utmz

Purpose: logs where a visitor came from, e.g. a search engine or from another website

Typical content: no personal information about you, only a randomly generated identification number linked to information about your computer and your browser

Domain: .twi-global.com; nsirc.co.uk

Expires: 6 months after it was last set on your device

Name:_utma

Purpose: logs each user’s number of visits, the time of the first visit, the previous visit and the current visit

Typical content: no personal information about you, only a randomly generated identification number linked to information about your computer and your browser

Domain: .twi-global.com; nsirc.co.uk

Expires: 2 years after your last visit to the website

Name:_utmb

Purpose: logs when a user starts their visit

Typical content: no personal information about you, only a randomly generated identification number linked to information about your computer and your browser

Domain: .twi-global.com; nsirc.co.uk

Expires: 30 minutes after your visit or after 30 minutes of inactivity

Name:_utmc

Purpose: logs when a user ends their visit

Typical content: no personal information about you, only a randomly generated identification number linked to information about your computer and your browser

Domain: .twi-global.com; nsirc.co.uk

Expires: when you close your browser

For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website.

Name: ASP.NET_SessionID

Purpose: session identifier cookies are set if you have login credentials after registering with our website and agreeing our terms and conditions. The cookie recognises your movement around the site as being from one computer.

Typical content: information about the session but the cookie itself does not contain any personal information

Domain:.twi-global.com; nsirc.co.uk

Expires: when you close your browser

Name: RememberMe (2 cookies)

Purpose: after entering your username and password in the login page, you can check this box allowing the website to remember your login details on your next visit so that you do not have to repeat the login process. These are ‘persistent cookies’ which are only set by your actions.

Throughout the site we use the services of external service providers to enhance the visitors’ experience. They set cookies to enhance their service or to track usage or to validate users. These cookies are only set when the page that uses that service is visited for example when you select a link and opt in to such a service. TWI is not responsible for the content of third party websites and does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the relevant third party website for further information.

Google Analytic cookies for improving our service

Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google stores the information collected by the cookie on servers in the United States. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google does not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. To give you additional control over Google Analytics cookies, Google provides an opt-out plug-in for most common website browsers.

For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website.

Cookies set by ‘Share This’

The ShareThis widget places the following cookies on your computer to make their service easier to use and to measure the size of our website’s audience.

Name: _uset

Purpose: identifies when a user had had a cookie set on their computer so that the task is not repeated in the next eight hours

Typical content: contains the text ‘true’ or ‘false’ depending on whether you have enabled cookie sharing

Domain: .sharethis.com

Expires: 8 hours after being set on your device

Name: _stid

Purpose: identifies users with topics of interest, based upon the content they consume and share

Typical content: a randomly generated number identifies the session

Domain: .sharethis.com

Expires: 1 year after the cookie is set on your device

Name: _UID

Purpose: measures the website’s audience size

Typical content: a randomly generated number identifies the session

Domain: .scorecardresearch.com

Expires: 1 year after the cookie is set on your device

Name: _UIDR

Purpose: measures the website’s audience size

Typical content: a randomly generated number identifies the session

Domain: .scorecardresearch.com

Expires: 1 year after the cookie is set on your device

Other cookies set by third party sites

The TWI website also hosts links to various social media portals and offers options to ‘share’ information. When selecting a link and opting in to such a service, you may be presented with a cookie. TWI is not responsible for the content of third party websites and does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the relevant third party website for further information. If you do not agree, do not use links to third parties

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you do not have to accept cookies and you can, should you choose at any time, reject or block the use of cookies and delete all cookies stored on your device.

TWI does not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. We use them to help us provide you with a better service. However, if you wish to restrict or block any cookies you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how.

For example, this is how it can be achieved in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0:

Press the ‘F1’ key

The Help function appears. Type in ‘cookie’ in the Help search box and follow the instructions

You can also delete cookies in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 by:

Selecting 'Tools/Internet Options'

Clicking on 'Delete' in the Browsing History section

Then select 'delete cookies'.

In addition to this, options to accept, block, or require notification for the use of cookies are found under:

'Tools/Internet Options/Privacy/Advanced'.

Please be aware however that if you choose to block cookies you may not be able to access certain features of this web site. For rejecting and deleting cookies on other web browsing platforms and mobile devices you may need to refer to your software or device manual.

AboutCookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.orgare independent sites which offers a guide to the use of cookies online. You can find more general information about how to delete and control cookies through your browser at these sites. Please note that TWI is not responsible for the content of third party website sites but has provided these links in good faith to help you make an informed decision about your online privacy and cookie settings.

It may be that your concerns about cookies are related to malicious spyware. Rather than switching off cookies in your browser you may find that anti-spyware software achieves the same objective by automatically deleting cookies considered to be invasive.

Collection, use and security of your personal information

What information do we collect about you and how do we use it?We collect personal information that you may volunteer while using our services.

We do not collect personal information about our visitors from other sources, such as public records or bodies, or private organisations.

To access the table of personal information collected and purposes for which they are used, please click here.

We do not collect or use personal data for any purpose other than that indicated in the table below.

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, we shall offer you the means to consent to this new purpose, by indicating in a check box at the point on the site where personal information is collected. Alternatively we will notify of our intentions to use your personal information for a different purpose from which it was originally collected and give you an opportunity to agree or disagree with this change.

We do not disclose our visitors’ personal information to third parties but may pass relevant anonymous data to appropriate project partners or, in the case of examination candidates, to the appropriate certifying body.

How do we secure your information?We do not give visitors to our websites the option of using a secure transmission method to send us their personal data other than where the Barclays / RBS WorldPay secure server is used for e-commerce transactions.

We have implemented security polices, rules and technical measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control from:

unauthorised access

improper use or disclosure

unauthorised modification

unlawful destruction or accidental loss

All our employees and data processors, who have access to, and are associated with, the processing of personal information, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of our visitors’ personal information.

We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to State institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation.

Access to your information and correctionYou have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, you can contact us by:

We will provide you with a readable copy of the personal data which we keep about you within 40 days, although we may require you to provide proof of your identity before we disclose your personal data. We may charge up to £10 for this.

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove personal information that we hold on you which you think is inaccurate.

Privacy and cookie use complianceOur privacy and cookie use policy complies with the following UK instruments and their amendments:

Data Protection Act 1998

Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003

Changes to our privacy and cookie use policyWe keep our privacy and cookie use policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this webpage. This privacy and cookie use policy was last updated on 23 July 2013.

How to contact usIf you have an enquiry or concern about our privacy and cookie use policy, please contact: